Lies
by conclusivelead
Summary: Potter doesn't say anything else, doesn't try to convince Malfoy to come inside anyway, but for a moment he just looks at the Slytherin, and suddenly Potter is Harry and Malfoy is Draco, and things are a bit better for just that moment. DRARRY/drabble.


**s.t.b says**: DH and epilogue compliant...rather compliant, anyway. Not a song-fic, but inspired by the song _Lies_ by The Swell Season (Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova, and band), and so I have some lyrics at the beginning to assist in sharing my inspiration.

--

#2

_I think it's time, we give it up  
And figure out what's stopping us  
From breathing easy, and talking straight  
The way is clear if you're ready now  
The volunteer is slowing down  
And taking time to save himself  
__The little cracks they escalated  
And before you know it is too late  
For making circles and telling lies..._

**x**

Ginny is always holding his hand. It's as if she refuses to, can't take such small things for granted any more. Now that things are so different, she seems to realize that events could have turned out so vastly different...she could have ended up alone. Whenever she enters a room and Potter is there, she immediately makes her way over to him, and wraps her hand around his, entwining their fingers. She is very brusque about the whole thing, really, as though she doesn't care what anyone thought about it. Potter never pushes her away, but he doesn't look truly thrilled at all the contact, either, so Malfoy is never exactly sure _what_ Potter thinks of it all. Of course, Malfoy only ever sees these things happen when it chances that he is in the same room as the Boy Wonder. Which isn't as often, he admits only silently, as he'd like. Despite the downfall of You-Know-Who and the slowly disappearing taint on the family name, Malfoy still has a difficult time feeling comfortable in the presence of the wizarding hero. Considering his family's long-time ties with the Dark Lord and the way Malfoy treated Potter throughout their years at school, he doubts very little that anything would ever cause his rival to reasess his opinions of his childhood rival.

Malfoy leans forward, resting his elbows on the top of the smooth table. The paleness of skin is a stark contrast with the black marble. It shocks him a little, makes his delicate complection look even more fragile. He spreads his fingers out and presses down, down against the cool surface. From a far corner of the room, where the celebration was just beginning to die down, he hears laughter ring out and it presses down, down on his ears. In his peripheral vision, Malfoy can see Weasel and Granger, grinning and laughing and hanging all over each other. He focuses on the wonder couple for only a moment, searching for the one whose laughter had caught his attention in the first place. It takes only a moment to find him where he sits, in a corner, with the youngest Weasley girl wrapped about him languidly and the sight presses down, down on his eyes. He tears his gaze away, gets to his feet, and leaves.

"Hello, Malfoy." Malfoy is standing still, frozen. The door to the party room is left wide open and all the color and laughter and light is spilling out into the hallway, illuminating the sillhouette of Harry Potter. "You're leaving." It's slightly curious, but mostly just stating the obvious.

"Yes." Malfoy chokes on the word, and hopes that the light is dim enough that Potter can't see his face.

Potter says nothing for a moment, just stares at him with those incredibly green eyes. When he does speak, it's in an empathatic tone that leaves Malfoy either grateful or infuriated - he can't decide. "You don't have to go, you know. You...you could come join us. Just for...a few minutes." After everything they'd been through, after everything that had happened in these past few weeks...such changes, such confusion, such loss...Malfoy just doesn't know whether he wants to turn around and walk away, or sneer, or accept Potter's offer.

"No...thanks."

And that's the end of it. Potter doesn't say anything else, doesn't try to convince Malfoy to come inside anyway, but for a moment he just _looks_ at the Slytherin, and suddenly Potter is Harry and Malfoy is Draco, and things are a bit better for _just that moment_.

**x**

Harry moves forward, eyes filled with an unidentifiable emotion and he reaches out and just barely brushes his fingers across Draco's cheek. The blonde boy gasps and takes a step back, filled with a longing that scares him. Harry's hand shoots back to his side, and he gives a confused sort of smile.

"Sorry." He nods, as though this finalizes things, and turns to return to the party. Draco's voice stops him halfway to the door.

"So am I." The ebony-haired boy turns back around and Draco is staring at him with a frightening intensity; it sends a shiver down his spine. Draco suddenly moves forward and grasps Harry's wrist and jerks him from the light emanating from the doorway. Harry is thrown into darkness and is about to protest when lips meet his and hands cup his face and he has never felt so much in his life. It's over all too soon, and he finds himself in the light again. Draco's face is just visible, eyes glowing, but filled with a sorrow that strikes Harry to the core, and he knows - this changes nothing, means nothing. It's simply a stolen moment, something for them both to live for...

Harry turns once more, but this time no one stops him and he all too soon finds himself back in Ginny's arms, her hand twisting, twisting, twisting into his. He glances back toward the hallway beyond the room, but no one is there. So even though his mind is filled with the feeling of fingers against his face and a kiss that could have been so much more, Harry looks back to his girlfriend and forces himself to smile.

END

A/N: If you would like to download and listen to this AMAZING song, then you can use the Rapidshare link in my profile. I'll try to upload it again if the link wears out, but I won't do it more than once or twice, so I suggest you get your booty over there now and download it before the link is used up.


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